FEDERAL LAWSUIT CLAIMS BRUTALITY BY SIMI POLICE WOMAN ALLEGES BROKEN ARM.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - A woman has filed a federal complaint against the Simi Valley Police Department for an incident in which she said officers broke her arm and arrested her while trying to keep the peace in a domestic situation.

An attorney for Eleanor Henderson said the woman's ex-husband and daughter brought three police officers to Henderson's home on Aug. 11 to pick up property they said they had a right to, by court order.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, when Henderson contested the court order, the officers arrested her for disobeying it. In the process, they handcuffed her in front of her 17-year-old daughter, grabbed her arm, and held it ``up against her back with such force causing a bone to break in (Henderson's) arm,'' the lawsuit alleges.

``I don't know how much peace was kept over a civil disturbance,'' Earnest C.S. Bell, her Ventura-based attorney, said Monday. ``The appropriate way to handle this is to go back to court and find the appropriate actions.

``The Simi Valley Police Department apparently doesn't understand that, because they're going to enforce this order, come hell or high water. The arrest went down in an ugly fashion, and the lady ended up with a broken arm.''

Henderson also was arrested on suspicion of resisting, obstructing and delaying a peace officer. Her lawsuit, filed last month, alleges civil rights violations, illegal search and seizure, false arrest, excessive force and failure to train officers.

City officials said they received the notification of the suit late Thursday.

``We're reviewing it, analyzing it,'' city attorney David Hirsch said by phone from Washington, D.C., where many city officials are attending a conference. ``We're preparing to do what we need to do to defend against it.''

Claims, which are normally a precursor to a lawsuit in state court, are not required for federal lawsuits.

Henderson's suit contends that the officers were not trained properly to enforce civil orders, and they should have left it up to the courts to enforce the order.

``The vast majority of police officers are good people and do a good job, but they're human beings and they make mistakes,'' Bell said. ``And when they do, they should be held responsible.''

The suit does not indicate how much Henderson is asking in compensation from the city. Bell said she will seek at least her medical expenses, along with other damages, in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $200,000.